


Between Breaths

by ChaosPrincessKit



Series: Barely Breathing [2]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: BAMF!Stiles, Companion Piece, F/M, Gen, M/M, Magic!Stiles, Pack Mom Stiles, Stiles gets introduced to whole shitty world he doesn't know enough about apparently, Stiles' POV
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-12 02:59:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4462934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaosPrincessKit/pseuds/ChaosPrincessKit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles' POV to my story Catch My Breath. I don't know how long this POV will continue on after Dawn is integrated into the Pack so we'll see on that. This is basically to show the pack side of things while they are trying to be suspicious of Dawn and hide everything from her at the same time. That goes about as well as it sounds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I'm Not Buying It

A.N: This is Stiles' POV of my story 'Catch my Breath' which is a BTVS/TW crossover with Dawn as the main character and Stiles as her cousin. I will be using this story to show specific scenes where it's important to see information from Stiles' POV as well. (Especially when that information is Sterek related and I'm not ashamed to admit that, but that’s not til way later).

 

\---

 

It was a week before school ended that he'd been completely bowled over for the second time that year. After that whole Kanima debacle, he wasn't sure he could even handle anymore stress and surprise, but he guessed he was wrong. When he got home from school, his dad was sitting there on a rare day off, eyes glued to the TV. It wasn't some action movie he was watching to pass the time, though. It was the news. Stiles focused and listened harder to see what kind of news show he was so intent on.

 

“-all that's left of what used to be the small town of Sunnydale. Only twenty-four hours ago, the entire town went down in a sinkhole, completely taking the rest of the world by surprise. Most had already evacuated the city by the time it went under completely but it wasn't without casualties. Unfortunately none of the survivors have been located to give a statement,” the reporter said solemnly from where she was standing in front of a gigantic crater.

 

“Oh my god,” Stiles murmured to himself. How does an entire town just go down like that? Who built a town on a ground that was likely to fall into the middle of the Earth?

 

His dad turned around with a grim expression, one that built a shit ton of apprehension in the pit of his stomach in just a split second. “Hey, Son,” he greeted.

 

“Dad...” his voice was tight with worry and he looked back to the TV, wondering what could make his dad so serious. His mind raced quickly and it only took him a minute before he remembered that he had family that lived in Sunnydale. “ _Oh my god_!” he hissed, louder.

 

His dad, to his credit, watched this whole process in understanding and then frowned when he'd drawn his conclusion. “They're ok, I already called Buffy,” he sighed heavily and scrubbed a hand over his face, leaning back against the couch. He looked like he'd aged five years since the last time Stiles had seen him.

 

“That's good, really good,” he agreed, nodding enthusiastically as he slowly dropped onto the couch as well. He was stunned and couldn't wrap his mind around his thoughts now.

 

“Stiles...do you remember your cousin Dawn?” his dad began casually. Way too casually. Stiles was instantly suspicious of his calm nature.

 

“Barely,” he remarked, drawing his own conclusions as to where this conversation was headed. His dad was a pretty blunt person and he respected that, so if he was drawing this out then it had to be important.

 

John debated with himself for a minute, looking his son over as though assessing whether he was ready for something. “She's gonna come live with us until she finishes High School while Buffy goes abroad for College.”

 

“Definitely,” Stiles agreed with a slow nod. “It makes sense and mom...” he trailed off. His mother would have immediately offered and then not taken no for answer and forced both Dawn AND Buffy to live with them for the rest of time. His mother loved her whole family, but no one more than her sister and her sister's kids.

 

“Yeah,” his dad smiled tightly.

 

His mind was racing now and he quietly excused himself to his room so that he could think and maybe call Scott. It was kinda great that Dawn was coming; he'd always been a big believer in family, he got that from his mom and dad both. Stiles was of the opinion that blood was stronger than anything and family always pulled through, even when everyone else flaked. He wasn't necessarily sure that was always true, considering what he knew about the living Hale's, but...he digressed.

 

He was worried though, and for good reason, he thought. Beacon Hills was full of werewolves, most of which wandered in and out of his bedroom window as the whim struck them. He was going to have yet another person to keep a huge secret from and this one was going to be around a lot more often than his father usually was. Stiles was afraid he was going to drag his innocent little cousin headfirst into his little world of werewolves. With all the work he put in to keep his father as unsuspecting as possible, it was exhausting to think about having to do it for someone else too.

 

Still. He was going to have to make it work. He wasn't going to make his cousin feel unwelcome just because he wanted to keep her at arms length from his double life.

 

\---

 

He'd asked Derek to call a pack meeting that night to discuss it. Derek grumbled and glared and threatened, but he eventually agreed that it was a good idea and called all the wolves. Minus Erica and Boyd, he noted sadly, because they'd run away from the pack and no one had heard from the since. When everyone arrived (Jackson came grudgingly, he assumed, by the sour glare on his face), he took a seat facing everyone and took a calm breath.

 

“Spit it out, Stilinski,” Jackson ground out, eyes glowing blue. “I've got better things to do than sit here while you mouth breathe on us.”

 

“Jackson!” Derek snapped, eyes flashing red, “knock it off.”

 

Jackson rolled his eyes and huffed angrily, but bared his neck briefly and sulked back against the couch. “Whatever,” he grumbled.

 

“My cousin is coming to live with me in about a week,” Stiles told them seriously. “She lived in Sunnydale, but as you may or may not have heard on the news, it just sank into the freaking ground.”

 

“Right. We need to know this because...?” Isaac questioned curiously, arching an eyebrow.

 

“You need to know because you guys are a bunch of werewolves and she's...she's just my cousin. She's not a part of all this,” he told them seriously. “She can't know.”

 

“Come on, Stiles, you really think we can't keep a secret from your cousin? Your dad still doesn't know, remember?” Scott tried to ease his mind.

 

“My dad works sixteen hours a day on a good day,” Stiles pointed out.

 

“Good point.”

 

“I'm just saying, my house can't be a free-for-all wolf sanctuary anymore,” he sighed and frowned because he hated that. He liked it when the wolves snuck through his window, even if they always wanted something, because they always hung out a little bit too and he enjoyed those moments. Scott frowned briefly but nodded. Derek nodded too and Stiles was glad, because Derek was his most frequent visitor besides Scott.

 

“The day I willing go over to your house, the world will be ending, Stilinski, so I think we're done here,” Jackson sneered from his seat. Derek glared so fiercely that he didn't even move to get up, but his jaw did began a steady tick of agitation. “Whatever,” he finally mumbled.

 

“Don’t tell her about Boyd and Erica,” Derek huffed, voice stern. “All anyone knows for right now is that they ran away and she doesn’t need to know anything about all that. It will only make her suspicious if she’s anything like you.” Stiles wasn’t sure, but there might have been a compliment hidden in there.”

 

“Awesome, come on Scott, I'll give you a ride home. Thanks for letting me talk to them, Derek,” he smiled happily and left the house, Scott following on his heels.

 

\---

 

Dawn was actually pretty much more awesome than he remembered her. Then again, she was eleven the last time he'd seen her and really, who likes an eleven year old except other eleven year olds? He cooked dinner the night she arrived with her friend Faith. That was weird, right? Buffy didn't come with her, but her twenty year old friend did? Just because? He couldn't judge, he guessed. If Scott moved somewhere, he might follow too. Obviously he was the last person to put an age limit on friendship and honestly, Faith was seriously hot. Still, him and Dawn had spent the evening talking and catching up and he found himself going to bed that night a lot calmer. He was positive that he was going to enjoy having her around; and he wasn't so blind as to not see the similarities between the two of them. They were definitely family.

 

The next morning, he was jostled awake but something pouncing on him and growling, yellow eyes flashing in front of his face. He made an embarrassingly high pitched squeak and flung the thing onto the ground, purely using the strength of his legs, hips, and the adrenaline rushing through his body. When he finally managed to stop panting and actually look, he found Scott sprawled on the floor, laughing so hard that he wasn't making any noise at all.

 

“Dude,” was all Stiles could manage as he tried to regulate his heartbeat.

 

Scott took in a great gasp of air and started laughing audibly. “The look on your face...” he wheezed, burying his face in the carpet to muffle the noise.

 

“Hardy har har har,” Stiles grumbled darkly and threw his pillow at his best friend. He barely had to look up to catch it and used it as a prop to lean against the bedframe with a quieter chuckle. “So what's up?”

 

“I just met your cousin,” Scott offered, face falling into a serious frown.

 

“You mean you actually used the front door this time?” Stiles felt his eyebrows shoot up.

 

“You're dad let me in before he left for work,” he admitted sheepishly. “Saw me walking towards the house from the window.”

 

“Ok, so you met Dawn, so what? I told you she got in last night,” Stiles shrugged carelessly.

 

“That's just it, dude, there's something...off...about your cousin,” Scott hedged. Stiles made a disbelieving noise, but Scott trudged on.

 

Stiles scoffed uncomfortably and fidgeted on the bed. “You're crazy,” he finally mumbled.

 

“No dude, I'm serious, she's weird,” Scott insisted.

 

“Dawn's just spazzy, like me, she's not weird,” Stiles glared at his best friend, knowing exactly what he was trying to get at by saying 'weird'. He meant supernaturally weird. Not-human weird. It was hard to believe considering everything he knew about his cousin.

 

“No, I mean… _weird_ ,” he widened his eyes significantly and leaned forward slightly as if Stiles didn't get it.

 

“Dude, I know what you mean,” he hissed, mindful of Dawn overhearing. “Now shut up.”

 

“I'm just saying, man, I could feel it or like...smell it or something. She's...” he lowered his voice dramatically here, “she's not completely human, I can tell.”

 

“Dude, _shut up_ ,” Stiles insisted heatedly.

 

Scott sighed, his shoulders slumped. “Yeah, you're right. Just...be careful. Her being here feels weird.”

 

Stiles felt a nervous churn start in his stomach, which he steadfastly tried to ignore. This wasn't fair, they'd just gotten out of something deep and hairy (or...well...scaley, he guessed). Now Scott was trying to tell him that his cousin coming to live with him might not have been a coincidence at all. Stiles didn't want to hear that and he certainly didn't want to be afraid of Dawn. Thus, denial and ignorance seemed to be the best course of action here. He started getting ready for his day, not even caring that Scott was in the same room with him. They changed in front of each other all the time for Lacrosse and besides, it wasn't like Scott was creepy-staring at him anyway.

 

\---

 

“Oh, hey.”

 

Stiles was surprised, but happy, when he saw his cousin heading towards the door where him and Scott were getting ready to leave. She smiled tightly at the both of them, but he could tell she wasn't comfortable around Scott. Said doofus wasn't making it any better from where he was standing, staring sternly. “Dawn!” he forced all the brightness into his voice that he could. “Did you sleep alright?”

 

“Yeah,” she mumbled vaguely, eyes glued to the window. He shot Scott a narrowed glare full of accusation and judgement. Scott shrugged his shoulders.

 

“Scott mentioned he ran into you this morning,” he tried to draw her into conversation again, visibly watching the tension spike in both of their shoulders as he mentioned their meeting. He cursed himself for forcing the subject.

 

Dawn, to her credit, was completely subtle. “I caught him as he was trying to sneak into your room,” she replied.

 

They chatted for a bit longer, until Faith and beeped the horn. She scrambled out the door with an apology and farewell; she didn't even acknowledge Scott. Stiles turned to his best friend with a dark look and a heavy frown. “Look what you did!” he complained. “She probably hates you.”

 

“She seemed fine to me,” Scott shrugged. “Definitely not all human, though, I can't quite get a good smell of her.”

 

“Dude,” Stiles made a face, “don't sniff my cousin like a creep. You're the least subtle person when it comes to people smelling. Do I have to remind you of Lacrosse practice where Danny thought you were hitting on him?”

 

“At least he seemed interested,” Scott shrugged in response.

 

“Oh my god, not the point!” Stiles grumped incredulously with a roll of his eyes. Then cautiously he asked, “does she feel evil?”

 

“I dunno. I can't tell yet,” Scott sighed and clasped his best friend on the shoulder. Stiles slumped, feeling heavy suddenly. He hated this, the fact that something was happening in his family that he didn't know about, couldn't control and couldn't contribute to. Still, maybe Scott was wrong or his wolfy senses were on the fritz. Stiles wanted hardcore evidence before he pointed a finger at his own cousin and he was sure that Scott understood that.


	2. The First Day of School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles hates that his friends are so openly suspicious of Dawn and that it makes her feel bad. His friends are stupid. But also Dawn stabbed a bird and that's kind of terrifying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> these are scenes up to chapter 6 of CMB So it's all completely caught up on that front for now.

At school the next day, Stiles was relieved to see Lydia getting along with Dawn. If he could get Dawn in with Lydia then she'd be golden for the rest of her years in Beacon Hills. She was only _just_ starting to tolerate Stiles' company as it was. As he tuned into their conversation, however, he realized they were talking about Sunnydale. Specifically, _escaping_ Sunnydale.

“We were the last bus out, the ground was literally crumbling behind us,” Dawn was telling Lydia, seriously.

“What?!” he started violently and grabbed Dawn's arm. That was literally insane and terrifying to think about. “You never said that!” he accused with a frown.

“Are you kidding me? You think I would tell that to Uncle John? You're the one forcing carrots down his throat to save his heart!” Dawn shot him an incredulous look.

Her logic was sound, but that didn't mean he had to like it. Slowly, he let go of her arm, conceding defeat. “Right, you're right. Of course you're right. Never tell that story to my dad. Still, you could have told me,” he sulked. The more he heard about Dawn's life, the less he felt comfortable with it. All of the things she'd gone though...it was awful to think about. He could help but feel that familiar protective instinct flare to life. Dawn was family and family was everything. He was praying that her bad luck wouldn't follow her to Beacon Hills. She'd already suffered so much and if she got dragged into the other world of Beacon Hills, he didn't know how she'd cope.

Jackson approached them coldly, possessively draping his arm around Lydia's waist. Stiles wrinkled his nose at the blonde and rolled his eyes. _Just fucking pee on her already, dude_ , he thought derisively to himself. 

“Stiles,” he greeted stiffly, his gaze flicking to Dawn suspiciously. “Who's this?” he demanded, immediately tensing in anticipation. Stiles sighed, _that_ was hard to ignore. He was also sure he nearly had a conniption fit when Jackson flashed his wolfy eyes at Dawn. Stiles shot Lydia an incredulously pointed look, she shrugged her shoulders helplessly, waiting for the fall out.

“My name is Dawn,” she answered calmly, “I'm Stiles' cousin.”

She was seriously just going to ignore it. _There is literally no way that she didn't notice Jackson eyes and she's just going to pretend like nothing happened._ Stiles thought deliriously. 

“Oh,” Jackson's body untensed casually, though he was still wrapped protectively around Lydia. “Sorry, you just...” he looked over at Stiles and widened his eyes meaningfully. Sending a silent message the same as Scott had. Dawn wasn't human. “You don't look like Stiles, I guess,” Jackson finally pulled his gaze back to Dawn and she looked a little stung.

“Thanks?” she mumbled meekly.

“So, what were you guys talking about?” he asked, relaxing against Lydia's side.

Lydia smiled up at him brightly, “Oh just about Dawn and her impeccable fashion from LA and her adventurous escape from collapsing Sunnydale,” she answered.

Jackson's eyebrows lifted, impressed, but he didn't say anything. Scott chose that moment to bound over like a happy puppy, a mile wide grin on his face. “Hey guys!” he greeted, “Dawn,” he turned to her as well, smile faltering.

Stiles narrowed his eyes on his best friend. How rude.

“Scott,” she responded dully. It wasn't long before she felt so uncomfortable that she made her excuses and escaped to her home room.

Stiles turned on the group with a dark glower. “Way to be subtle, assholes,” he glared at both Scott and Jackson. “Now, not only does she think she's not welcome, she also thinks you _hate_ her.”

“Stiles, I don’t even know what she is,” Scott protested. “I don't like that at all.”

“Unfortunately, I agree with McCall,” Jackson added. “She's something and I have no idea what and I don't trust what I don't know.”

“It makes the wolf all agitated,” Scott whispered as low as he possibly could, close to Stiles' ear.

Lydia seemed put out by this. “So...we can't hang out?” She asked impatiently. “Stiles, why would you introduce me to someone I can't hang out with?” she demanded.

Stiles threw his hands up in the air, disgusted with his friends. “You guys suck and you're making her feel like shit. It's not cool,” he sniped before shouldering his bag and stalking off to his own classroom.

\---

He didn't get a chance to see Dawn again until after lunch in Gym class. He was excited to hear about her first day in Beacon Hills High and once he expressed his interest, she was filling him in eagerly. The treacherous little wench had even managed to make a friend out of Danny Mahealani and he thought that said something rather positive about her, personally. Then again, Danny was best friends with Jackson and Jackson was evil, so maybe there was something bad to be said about being friends with Danny.

When Coach Finstock blew his whistle and drew everyone's attention, he could tell by the self-satisfied smirk that everyone was going to hate what was coming next. They did. They were all being forced to run until they just couldn't run anymore. He called it a 'stamina test'. Bullshit. It was a _'it's the first day of school and I was too lazy to make a lesson plan'_ test. 

Still, they all took off at a sedate pace and began their run. Dawn kept pretty good pace with both him and Scott, who was holding back significantly for the sake of the non-werewolf population. As time dragged on, however and Finstock became more impatient and Scott kept try and failing to catch a good scent off of Dawn, things just kinda seemed to escalate out of control. Scott narrowed his eyes with calculated intention and sped up just enough to put himself ahead of Dawn. She recognized the challenge for what it was, which Stiles thought also said a lot about her.

Dawn looked back at Stiles, confused and annoyed. Stiles shrugged in response and motioned her onward. Maybe Scott was curious to see if he could goad her into doing something supernatural. That seemed pretty stupid though, considering they were surrounded by human people. Then again, it was _Scott_. Stiles smiled when Dawn pulled ahead of Scott, and he pulled ahead of her easily, using less than a quarter of his actual speed. He could tell Dawn was getting frustrated. When Scott sped up just enough that there was no humanly possible way she could catch him, yet still making it look human enough to not be suspicious; he cast a challenging look back to her, daring her to try and catch him. Stiles could feel the anxiety building in his chest. He did not want a public showdown, on an epic scale.

She looked back at him briefly, but was determined to meet the challenge head on. He watched her dig her toes into the floor and take off as fast as she possibly could. She was fast, admittedly, but not inhumanly so and she couldn't catch up to Scott at all. Everyone had stopped running by now to watch the race between the two. Stiles could tell that Scott was just toying with her and that made him angry at the dismissiveness of his best friend. Plus, it kind of hurt that he would treat a member of Stiles' family that way, human or not. 

He could tell that Dawn was getting tired and weak. He watched her legs wobble and her whole upper half heave with the effort of breathing. All it took was that wobble to knock her off balance though and from her speed, she went crashing into the ground and skittered to a stop a couple feet away, dark red with embarrassment.

Scott stopped running immediately and turned to face her. Stiles watched his best friend's guilty expression as he took in the panting, humiliated heap of a girl sitting on the ground, trying not to cry. He then watched several simultaneous emotions flit across his face. Relief, concentration, shame, most prominent. It didn't take long for him to go help Dawn up. She hesitated, but accepted his hand, allowing him to pull her up, but leaning most of her weight on him. Scott didn't even look like he minded. 

Stiles sighed with relief and made his way over. “You're dumb,” he told her after a quick inspection to make sure she wasn't hurt.

“Yes, I'm fine; thank you, Stiles. It's nice to know you really care,” she retorted drolly.

He pulled a face at her and then folded his arms, looking stern. “You should have stopped, you could have hurt yourself.” He hoped his disapproval was obvious.

Dawn pouted, legit pouted at him and then sighed heavily, shrugging her shoulders in a careless gesture before bouncing slightly on her heels, testing the weight on her legs. When she deemed them stable enough, she let go of Scott, giving him an embarrassed grin. As she pulled away from him, Scott attempted to subtly sniff her. He failed. He failed epically and even Stiles could see Dawn internally panic for a moment. Quickly he shooed her off to the girls locker room so she could shower and change and he, in turn, frog marched his best friend into the boys locker room.

“Dude!” Scott protested.

“Do not 'dude' me, creeper-wolf. You just sniffed my cousin and not in a subtle way either. I think she's legit terrified of you now, because now not only does she think you hate her, but now you're a creepy sniffer too!” Stiles waved his hands for emphasis. Scott needed to understand that he needed to be a more discreet werewolf.

“I can't identify her smell at all,” Scott told him, not bothering to reply to the accusation of being creepy. “But I don't think she's evil...I kinda get that feeling now,” he grinned, like this was a great achievement and he was so proud of himself.

“Yeah, now you've just got to make up for being a dick when you thought she was,” Stiles scoffed angrily and shook his head.

“You're right, I'll apologize to her!” he smiled brightly.

Him, Scott and Dawn had English next so they waited for Dawn outside the girls locker room and then walked with her to class. He couldn't help smile fondly at his cousin who was grumbling about being sleepy and sore and telling Scott how much he sucked. Easily accepting the fact that Scott seemed to be ready to be friends now. 

He was envious of that ability. Scott shot him a proud smile, like a puppy looking for approval. It was a look that clearly said _'Look, we're getting along, isn't that great?!'_ He could tell that Dawn had noticed too and pulled a face, rolling his eyes at her. She responded with a giggle. 

He was starting to feel calmer now that he knew Scott wasn't up in arms anymore. Or...well...up in claws, as the case may be. He was starting to feel like everything would be alright after all and whatever his cousin was, she'd be able to tell him in her own time.

\---

Stiles was huddled over Lydia, protecting her from the overly aggressive birds. He locked eyes with Dawn where she was hunched behind her desk. Moving Lydia with him, he scooted closer to his cousin. He flinched as one of the birds swooped down, but Dawn picked up her textbook, and swung like a pro, knocking the bird across the room. Stiles silently thanked her and eyed the rest of the birds warily. What the hell was happening? First that stupid freaking deer, then Lydia tells him her dog went schitzo and bit her and now birds were Alfred Hitchcocking the students? No thanks. A whole heap of no thanks.

He watched warily as Dawn peeked over the top of her desk at the window. He turned his head to look as well, wishing that he hadn't soon after. The shattering of the glass seemed amplified to him, like it was purposefully being dramatic. Sometimes he hated the smugness of the supernatural world. He heard Lydia whimper and curl further into the floor and squeezed her shoulders comforting, feeling a sort of wariness build in his chest.

He didn't see the three coming for them until it was too late. He protected Lydia as best he could, but his arms were getting pecked open and it hurt. Lydia screamed as her scalp was pecked and then her hair tugged. Stiles whacked the bird as hard as he could to get it away; the other two dove for his arms again. He cursed loudly as one of them viciously tore open his forearm. 

Dawn was by their side in an instant. She hit the first bird with her book so hard that it fell to the floor, dead. The second bird was smarter, dodging her swings. She threw the book at it. It flew off to the other side of the classroom and if a bird could look offended, Stiles would have sworn that it was.

There was one bird left and it was currently trying to peck Lydia's head off. Stiles was blocking as best he could, swinging wildly at the bird every time it got closer. It had a piece of strawberry blonde hair firmly in its beak was was attempting to tug it out. Every time reached out to make it let go, it bit his fingers bloody. Dawn hissed in frustration beside him and looked around, frazzled. Suddenly, she reached down and then jammed a pencil into the bird's chest. Instantly stopping it's heart and causing it to drop to the ground. The pencil stuck up in the air almost cartoonishly. 

Stiles froze, shock flooding his system. Had that really just happened? Had Dawn really just shoved a pencil straight through a bird's heart without hesitation? What did that even mean? _Who did that?_ “Oh my god,” he muttered, staring down at the bird whose blood was starting to puddle dramatically.

Lydia looked at him with wide eyes and then looked down at the bird herself. He could almost hear what she was thinking, cause he was thinking the same thing. “You killed it,” Lydia whispered hoarsely.

“I think I killed a couple of them,” Dawn frowned critically, looking around at the couple of downed birds around her that she'd taken out with her textbook. She wasn't really helping her case, honestly.

“You stabbed it with your pencil!” he gaped at her incredulously, unable to contain his surprise anymore.

“It was trying to scalp Lydia! Excuse me for being proactive!” she retorted angrily, bending down to look over the bird carefully. He felt like he suddenly didn't even know anything about his cousin and that was incredibly disconcerting. It was hard not to notice all of the attention suddenly on his cousin and not all of it was appreciative. Some of it was downright fearful as they stared at the bird bleeding out on the floor.


	3. Stop being weird. Please.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this brings us up to date on Stiles' POV through chapter 7 of CMB. The last scene also leads into chapter 8 of CMB :)

Stiles couldn’t help it when he told his dad that Dawn had stabbed a bird with a pencil. It just seemed like something he needed to tell everyone he’d ever met ever. It was simultaneously the coolest and most horrifying thing he’d ever seen...well, that he’d seen his cousin do, at any rate. Then again, she was eleven when he’d really last seen her so how cool and horrifying could she have been back then? Well...all eleven year olds were horrifying, honestly. He pulled his wandering thoughts back to the classroom where Dawn was glaring at him like he’d betrayed her. Well he had just thrown her under the bus, he supposed. 

He stiffened slightly when Chris Argent entered the room and made his way over to Allison and Lydia. Allison wrinkled her nose as Dawn voiced her appreciation but Stiles understood. Argent wasn’t _bad_ looking, he was just a _Hunter_. When Lydia introduced Dawn, mentioning where she was from, there was no mistaking the way Argent’s eyes got frostier. Stiles felt something sick settle into the pit of stomach. It was beyond obvious, to him, to Allison and to Lydia that he’d recognized the name of the town. Like he had unsavory connotations with that town, the same as he did Beacon Hills.

What did that mean? What kind of town had Sunnydale been? It didn’t ease Stiles’ mind in regards to the fact that his friends couldn’t stop telling him that his cousin wasn’t all human. It also didn’t ease Stiles’ mind in regards to what he had just witnessed Dawn do, either. Life was complicated. 

He knew that Dawn felt the rising tension, because she excused herself with her phone and walked away, cheeks flushed. He watched her go through her messages until he felt like a weird creeper and forced himself to turn his attention to where his dad was questioning the teacher on what had happened with the birds. Several of the desks were still overturned and more than that were bleeding, pecking open by the birds. His arms and fingers in particular were stinging and aching, having been pecked open in several place by those vicious bastards. 

When Dawn came back over to them and informed his dad that she’d be leaving with Faith instead of waiting for the end of the day, Stiles had to admire her chuff. No way would he have ever told his dad flat out that he was doing something without asking permission. That’s why he found himself lying about what he was doing so very often. He watched his dad frown, saw the wheels turn behind his eyes as he wondered what kind of life Dawn lived in Sunnydale and if living with Buffy had desensitized her to authority. That’s what it seemed like to Stiles. He assumed that if he’d had an older brother and both his parents were gone, he wouldn’t have very many rules to live by either. He didn’t like to think about both his parents being gone though, that way led to panic attacks and impossible yet plausible scenarios. 

His dad conceded with a pointed comment about asking permission and Dawn looked suitably embarrassed about forgetting. When the sheriff moved off to continue questioning, Stiles inched closer to Allison and Lydia, seeing that Dawn was content to prop herself against a desk and stare intently at the door until her friend showed up. That was weird right? Now he was starting to feel like there was something up with Faith, too. Everyone thought that Dawn was something unidentifiably supernatural so it would only stand to reason that Faith would be too. And it would make sense as to why an older woman would follow his teenage cousin to a completely new town. Alone. 

It would also make sense as to why Dawn would immediately call her after what went down in the school. When Faith showed up, she looked a little flushed and sweat sheened. Like she’d ran there instead of driven. They both left without a word, though Stiles could see Dawn’s hands visibly shake as she walked past. He felt bad for her. Maybe she didn’t know what she was either? That happened. Hell, it happened to Scott. Scott would probably still be clueless if Stiles wasn’t such a brilliant genius. Maybe she had instincts and abilities that she couldn’t control, like Scott. Maybe Faith was her equivalent to an Alpha since she clearly wasn’t a werewolf. 

When his dad came over to talk to Chris Argent about ‘Animal Hunting’ because he’d overheard Stiles tell his friends that Argent was a _Hunter_ , he legit wanted to die. Allison and Lydia shot him accusing looks and Argent ticked his gaze for a moment as if he were contemplating what the murder of a teenage boy would mean for his code. Argent’s muttered reply and quick exit didn’t appease his dad but Stiles could only flail ineffecutually in disbelief that his dad would even bring it up. Why? _WHY_? Why make Stiles’ life more complicated? 

\---

He called Scott to let him know about the birds, but Scott was super distracted and didn’t want to talk. Well too freaking bad, because Stiles _needed_ to talk about it. Scott finally gave in and told him to meet at Derek’s house. Stiles felt a small jolt that he chalked up to apprehension and _maybe_ thrill. He severely hoped that Derek didn’t still _live_ in that burnt out husk.

The first thing he did before going there, however, was to stop at home and check on his cousin. She’d seemed pretty shaken by the school incident and he wanted to make sure she wasn’t packing her bags and begging Buffy to come get her away from the potential start to an Alfred Hitchcock movie. 

When he knocked on her bedroom door, he heard her yelp in surprise and then there was a loud thump, like something heavy was being shoved around. When he was invited in, his eyes were immediately drawn to the fact that Dawn was sprawled out awkwardly on the floor, looking unkempt. Faith was sitting cross-legged on the bed, looking amused. He immediately flushed with embarrassment because _obviously_ he’d just caught them making out or something and _duh_ why hadn’t he ever thought of _that_ before. Obviously Faith was Dawn’s girlfriend, why else would she follow her here. He’d obviously interrupted an intimate moment. 

He backed out of the room quickly, offering his platitudes and trying not to meet the eye of either one of them as he practically screamed his goodbye’s over his shoulder. Why in the world wouldn’t they have done that at Faith’s house? Thankfully it was him that had caught them and not his father, because Faith might have been getting a little more restrictions when it came to Dawn. 

Faith was about 22, same age as Derek. Maybe a little younger. He didn’t really know what made him draw the connection, maybe because he’d thought that Faith was kinda like Dawn’s Alpha instead of her girlfriend. Kinda like Derek was his Alpha. _Nope, nope. Stop that right now. Derek is not your Alpha. Derek is AN Alpha. If anyone is gonna Alpha lord over Stiles it’s gonna be Scott._ he told himself firmly. Derek was a terrible Alpha anyway. Boyd and Erica had literally run away at the beginning of the Summer because they thought Derek sucked Alpha balls. Well...he assumed. 

At least Derek hadn’t gotten as crazy as Peter and he was starting to reign control over his power once again. He was a lot calmer these days, a lot less eager to change a bunch of teens into werewolves. That may or may not have been because he learned his lesson already, though. He’d even taken Isaac in, which was a sweet, actual Alpha thing to do. He shook his head at himself and rolled his eyes. Derek wasn’t sweet. That wasn’t a word he generally associated with the sourwolf. 

He parked his Jeep in front of the dilapidated Hale house, noting that half the door was covered in paint and very firmly deciding he didn’t want to know why. Why paint something on a burned down, city owned house unless you didn’t want anyone else to see what was underneath it? He shook his head and entered the house, feeling the boards creak ominously under his feet; immediately giving him away to the wolves inside. He was sure they probably smelled him before he’d stepped inside anyway. 

“Hey, Stiles, in here,” Scott called from the...front room? Isaac was laid out on a table, looking pale but breathing, so that was good. Derek, however, was holding a blowtorch and that could only mean terrible things were about to happen. 

“Oh my god, what is that for?” Stiles gaped and froze by the archway. 

“Scott’s tattoo,” Derek answered with a shrug. 

“Oh. Oh that’s...that’s actually awful. Seriously dude? The needle wasn’t bad enough?” Stiles demanded, turning his attention to his best friend.

“It’s the only way to get the tattoo,” Scott insisted. 

Derek discussed the tattoo with Scott for a moment while Stiles internally panicked. This was way worse than almost having to cut off Derek’s arm, they were literally about to set his best friend on fire! When Derek actually lit the torch, he was so done. He moved for the door, opting out on viewing the upcoming horrorfest. 

“Nope.” Derek threw out his arm and caught him around the chest. Stiles stopped and stared at him, ignoring the fact that Derek’s hand literally felt like it was burning through his shirt where it was touching his chest. “Need help holding him down,” Derek pushed him backward and locked eyes with him, looking amused. 

“Oh my god,” Stiles repeated.

\---

He would probably always count that among the worst things that have ever happened to him and he’d gotten paralyzed and watched a man crushed to death when Jackson was a lizard. He liked to think he had a high tolerance for gross and unusual. Honestly, his tolerance was only for unusual and he was starting to get his fill. He glared sullenly at the back of Derek’s head while he cleaned up, waiting for Scott to come to because the failwolf had passed out. 

When he did finally wake up, he was immediately alert and ready to jump back into things. “Okay, Stiles. What’s up, what happened at the school?” 

“What?” Stiles frowned at him and then suddenly snapped to clarity. “Oh right. Dude. After you left English the entire classroom got attacked by birds! A huge freaking storm of birds. They busted through the windows and pecked the shit out of everyone!” 

“Seriously? What the hell, man?” Scott gaped, sounding worried. 

“That’s not even the best, most freaky yet epic part yet,” Stiles informed him. Half feeling like he should keep the information to himself to protect Dawn but knowing it was important anyway. “Dawn beat the shit out of a couple of them with her textbook...then she stabbed one of them, through the chest, with a pencil.”

“What?!” Scott demanded incredulously. “Are you kidding me? That’s...intense…” 

“Wait...your cousin Dawn?” Derek’s eyebrows hit his hairline. 

“She’s interesting,” Scott answered with a thin lipped frown. Derek didn’t push and Stiles was grateful. He didn’t need the big bad Alpha breathing down his cousin’s neck. Literally. Because Derek was fucking dramatic and he so would. 

Derek frowned thoughtfully, narrowing his eyes on the two of them but pretty much looked like he had too much on his plate to really care. He opened his mouth like he was going to ask, but he decided better of it and ushered the both of them to the door. 

That was when Scott noticed the door. Stiles was honestly a little thankful that his best friend was pig-headed and curious, because it only took him a couple of seconds to disregard Derek’s privacy completely and scratch up the new paint on his door. Revealing the symbol of the freaking Alpha pack. There was a pack of Alphas. And they were in Beacon Hills. Coming for Derek and his pack. Stiles was already nodding his head before Scott turned to him to confirm their involvement. Of course they were going to help. Derek would literally die without them. Well, him mostly, he was beginning to lose count on how many times he’d saved that man’s ass. 

Great, just one more thing to hide from Dawn. How was he going to keep her out of the middle of a _pack_ of Alphas? 

\---

Scott called a meeting that night at his house. Lydia drug a grudging Jackson along. Isaac hovered uncertainly in the living room, looking like an anxious puppy. He knew it was because they were making plans without Derek and Derek was the Alpha. Isaac liked being Derek’s beta and he understood that the Alpha held the authority and should therefore, probably know what was going on in the pack. But...it was Dawn. And Stiles definitely didn’t need Derek going Alpha on his cousin. 

“We need to talk about Dawn,” Scott said, once everyone was gathered. 

“No, Scott, don’t do this. I _like_ Dawn,” Lydia pouted. 

“She doesn’t feel _evi_ ,” Scott told them, “but she’s definitely something. I just… I don’t want to get surprised like last time. Can’t we just keep an eye on her without accusing her of anything?” he asked hopefully.

“That sounds a lot like spying,” Lydia frowned, cocking her head to the side. 

“It’s not spying! It’s...cautious…” Scott insisted. 

“Well, I live with her and I’m pretty sure I’d know if something untoward were happen. Kinda in tune with that stuff now,” Stiles interrupted with heavy sarcasm. 

“Stiles, she’s not human,” Scott turned to him.

“Neither are you and I’m still _your_ friend,” Stiles scoffed. “I’m just saying, what if she doesn’t even know what she is yet? Or maybe she does but she’s just getting by with life and you’re all being a bunch of creeper wolves and making her feel uncomfortable.” 

Everyone seriously contemplated that for a second while Lydia shot smug and irritatingly pleased looks at Scott. 

“You’re right, Stiles. Of course, you’re right,” Scott nodded. “I hope that’s really all that it is, but...I dunno. There’s _so_ much going on right now and it doesn’t feel like a coincidence that she’s here. Now. I don’t want to take the chance of getting surprised by more bad on top of all the bad we already have. I mean...there’s a freaking _Alpha Pack_ out there. An entire pack of Alphas. That’s terrifying.” 

“Which is why we shouldn’t be wasting time focusing on Dawn,” Lydia retorted after he’d finished. She folded her arms over her chest and glared.

“I kind of agree,” Jackson grumbled. “She’s irritating, but I can deal with her. She doesn’t seem so bad.”

“Aw, that was kinda sweet, Jackson,” Stiles held a hand to his heart.

“Shut it, Stilinski, just because she’s your cousin doesn’t mean she got your loser disease,” Jackson growled. 

“And the sweet just keeps on coming,” Stiles wiped a fake tear. “It’s almost adorable.” 

“Let’s move on,” Lydia suggested as a rumble rolled through Jackson’s chest and his eyes flashed bright blue. 

“Yeah let’s move on to the fact that Jackson can’t control himself,” Stiles suggested, ignoring Lydia’s glare. “You all are lucky that my cousin is either oblivious or incredibly lenient because Jackson keeps giving her the wolf eyes!” 

Several groans and sighs rang out and Jackson flushed, clenching his jaw so hard that it started to tick. He studiously made eye contact with the wall. “I’m working on it!” he snapped. Lydia squeezed his knee and glared at Stiles again. He felt suitably guilty but not by much. 

“Can we just keep an eye on her tomorrow, please? Just for tomorrow and we’ll see if we notice anything suspicious,” Scott interrupted. 

“This is ridiculous, Scott, she’s gonna know. There’s no way she’s not going to know.” Stiles threw his hands up in the air and scoffed. “You are about as subtle as a mac truck to the face and yeah, maybe she has classes with everyone but I think she’s going to notice everyone following her around all day!” 

“We just have to know, Stiles,” Scott told him. 

“Fine. Whatever.” Stiles grabbed his bag from the floor and left Scott’s house without a glance back. He wasn’t going to sit there and listen to them plot to stalk his cousin for the day.


	4. With a Little Help From My Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles' POV of chapter 8 [Catch My Breath] and having his friends stalk Dawn all over the school.

That night, Derek came through his window right before he went to bed around one. Stiles wasn’t surprised, though he listened to make sure Dawn wasn’t up and about. When he was satisfied with the lack of noise, he leaned back in his computer chair and raised his eyebrows at Derek. The older man’s mouth twitched slightly, but he waited for Stiles to acknowledge him. 

“What are you doing here?” Stiles finally asked, keeping his voice low. 

“How come I haven’t met your cousin yet?” Derek asked instead of answering. Maybe it was an answer in itself. 

Stiles gaped at him and leaned forward in his chair. “Dude...seriously?” 

Derek frowned at him and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “What?” His voice was gruff and defensive. It was kind of hilarious, Stiles thought. 

“You want to meet my cousin?” 

The silence was prominent. Derek stubbornly refused to answer that question and didn’t look to be offering up anymore information on the matter. With a sigh, Stiles pinched the bridge of his nose and frowned. It was a challenge getting Derek to talk with his words instead of his eyebrows. 

“You...don’t want to meet my cousin. You just want to know why I haven’t introduced you?” Stiles ventured tentatively. 

Derek pursed his lips and pushed his hands deeper into his pockets, a sheepish look filtering across his face. “No one will say anything about her,” he grumped. “Jackson literally changed the subject when I asked.” 

“Nice. You turned the clever one first, huh?” Stiles remarked with disdain. 

Derek pushed a sharp burst of air through his nose and Stiles accepted that as a laugh, no matter if he denied it or not. 

Another long silence passed between the two of them. Long enough that Stiles was beginning to get restless and was thinking about moving to the other side of the room. “So what is she?” Derek finally broke the silence. 

“What?” Stiles squeaked, flailed, and nearly fell out of his chair. 

Derek stared him down but didn’t laugh at him. “Is it something I need to be worried about?” 

“What?” 

“Stiles,” Derek glared at him, like he was being obtuse on purpose. “The only reason anyone would avoid the topic of your cousin would be if she wasn’t just another human. I know my Betas. They think they’re noble or some shit, but it could have gotten us killed.”

It was the longest thing Stiles had ever heard Derek say. He could only sit in stunned silence and gape at him. Who was this person that suddenly used all of these words? He didn’t think Derek knew maybe more than ten, all together. 

“Stop mocking me inside your head,” Derek rumbled. Stiles swallowed his grin when he felt the vibrations of a wolf growl. “I trust Scott’s instinct well enough to let it slide for now,” Derek continued. “If she was a threat, I trust I’d be told immediately.” Stiles kinda thought there was a threat in _that_.

“Of course,” he found himself murmuring in agreement. 

Derek nodded, satisfied with that and looking incredibly smug for a moment. As the silence went on, Stiles finally got up from his chair and stood awkwardly in the middle of his room. Derek followed him with his eyes as he made his way towards the window. 

“I know you told us not to come in this way,” he said, his voice quieter than before. “But I didn’t get a chance to ask you about it earlier and I made sure I came late so she wouldn’t notice.” He sounded almost defensive about it. 

“It’s cool,” Stiles assured him. “Night, Derek.” 

“... Goodnight.” 

\---

Stiles almost couldn’t stand it when Scott met him at his locker the next morning and said: “Operation Dawn is go.”

“You’re calling it that, really?” Stiles scoffed, pulling some books from his locker to shove in his bag. “That’s not obvious, or suspicious or anything. If she overhears that she’s not going to know at all.” 

“Your sarcasm actually hurts right now, dude,” Scott replied with a frown. “It’s going to be okay, it’s good to be careful.” 

“Yeah, well your being careful is making _her_ feel unwelcome and uncomfortable. I just don’t like it.” Stiles slammed his locker shut and shouldered his bag roughly. 

“I know. I’m sorry,” Scott murmured as they parted ways to go to class. 

Stiles knew that Dawn and Scott shared first period and he knew that’s when the stalking would begin. It hadn’t escaped anyone’s notice that she had every single class with at least one of them. It _was_ a small town, after all. He could only hope that his friends didn’t screw this up and at that Dawn could take this all in stride, in the end. He refused to believe she was evil and he hated that Scott thought she could be. He wasn’t going to tell Scott that it was okay that he was hyper-vigilant, because it was his cousin, but generally speaking, Scott was right. He knew that. He still didn’t like it. 

\---

When Stiles met up with Scott and Isaac at lunch, he was grumpy. He’d passed Dawn a couple times in the hall between classes. Each time she’d either been corralled by one of his friends or closely stalked. He honestly didn’t know which one was worse. If she noticed or was freaking out, she hid it well and he applauded her for it. 

Stiles dumped his tray across from Scott and sat down with a sigh. “So how’s operation Dawn going,” he muttered before shoving his burger in his mouth. 

Scott smiled happily. “So good. Dawn invited me over after school for dinner and so we can do Spanish. Jackson’s pissed at her, but when is Jackson not pissed at someone. He called her a freak and said she was scribbling in her notebook when he sat down. I guess that’s suspicious. Isaac and Lydia really like her though,” he told Stiles with great enthusiasm. 

Stiles nodded absently and excused himself from talking by shoving his mouth full of food. He wondered how Dawn was feeling about all this cause there was no way she couldn’t notice the extra attention. He half-waved when Isaac sat down with his lunch, but continued to be fully invested in his food. It was much more interesting than the conversation about the Alpha twins that Isaac had started immediately. 

When only his fries were left, he noticed that Isaac had immediately switched his topic of conversation mid-sentence. Scott didn’t even have time to be confused before Dawn threw herself down beside Stiles looking thunderous and grabbed his fries. 

“Hey!” Stiles gave a half-hearted complaint, raising his eyebrows at his friends in question. They both shrugged. “Already decided you hated Harris too much to be in his class?”

“He kicked me out,” she replied casually, stealing a handful of his fries before surrendering them. She was just lucky she was family. 

“What?” Scott’s eyes went wide. Like he didn’t actually think Harris was going to be a dick to Dawn just because she was Stiles’ cousin. 

“He’s a psychopath, clearly,” Dawn rolled her eyes and shoved a couple fries into her mouth to avoid having to clarify. 

“How much detention, though?” Stiles prompted with a wince of anticipation.

“Four days,” she responded after swallowing her food. Dawn made a face and threw herself backward in her chair, folding her arms over her chest. 

Isaac let out a low whistle and shook his head slowly. “What did you do?” He almost sounded impressed. Stiles noted that and filed it away for later. 

Dawn launched into her story of Harris’ class. How she’d been paired with Aiden (no, he didn’t miss the sudden panicked look that crossed Isaac’s face.), and how he’d subsequently left. Then she went on to explain that Harris had blamed her, she’d gotten sarcastic and then called him childish. He kicked her out and she stormed out, leaving the door wide open as a parting jab. His cousin was kind of a badass, but also kind of terrifying. He legit feared for her safety if Harris ever snapped and started killing the students. In a town like Beacon Hills it wasn’t that impossible, either. 

He bemoaned the fact that Harris was now going to probably hate him _more_ because of her, but still, he was pleased. Even if his cousin was crazy in the best way possible, it still would have been a perfect life experience to witness Harris being put in his place like that. 

“Hey, at least now you get an extra lunch,” Scott offered with an optimistic smile. 

“Yeah, before my freedom gets stripped at the end of the day,” she answered sullenly. 

“That seems a little bleak,” Scott laughed, looking genuinely friendly and open. That, at least, made Stiles feel a little better about them stalking her all day. “Now who’s going to cook me dinner?” 

“Ah, I said it was a surprise. I never said it was me cooking,” she shook her head at him, lips twitching. “Now it’s definitely not going to be me cooking, so there goes one suspect.” 

Isaac look a little perturbed as he interrupted. “You’re cooking Scott dinner?” his eyebrows inched up his forehead. Stiles would have laughed outloud if he didn’t actually want to keep Isaac as a friend. 

Not like Isaac really had anything to worry about, if he was interested. Not from Scott anyway. If Scott had any interest in Dawn he wouldn’t be so invested in trailing her. Scott had the uncanny ability to completely ignore every single flaw in every girl he was attracted to. They were all pure goddesses that floated on clouds of innocence or some shit. He was way too suspicious of Dawn to be into her. 

“Scott likes to come over and eat all the food in the house because Stiles lets him. I told him if he came over and studied Spanish with me, _someone_ would cook him dinner.” Dawn shot his best friend a pointed look and made a face at him 

Isaac seemed appeased as he patted Scott on the shoulder and chuckled. Scott pouted at her and went back to his lunch. Still, Stiles saw his opportunity and he took it. He invited Isaac over for a big study group and for dinner, as well. Ever since he’d known Isaac, the boy had stayed cooped up with Derek. Especially when Erica and Boyd got kidnapped by a pack of Alphas. It would be good for all of them and it would please Scott because there’d be an extra eye on Dawn. 

They chatted through the rest of the lunch period and then headed for the gym. Being such a small town allowed for each year to have their own gym class. That was only four classes though, which is why Coach also taught Econ. Once they changed, they all separated into groups to do their stretches. Stiles stayed back with Scott and Isaac as Allison and Lydia drifted over to Dawn with smiles. 

“Look at them,” Isaac hissed in his ear. Stiles jerked his head up and let his eyes scan until he found the Alpha twins glaring down his cousin. “I heard them talking in the locker room and Aiden has detention with Harris today for leaving class. That means he’s going to be in detention with Dawn after school.” 

It took a couple seconds for Stiles to drag his eyes away from trying to drill holes in Aiden’s head. “Why is this happening?” Stiles asked rhetorically, casting his eyes up to the sky for a divine answer. “We’re not bad people, we don’t deserve additional stress.”

“It’s cool. I have a plan,” Isaac smirked. 

He detailed an easy, hastily thrown together plot of pissing off Harris in his last period class and earning himself a detention so that he’d be there to. Stiles wasn’t sure if that was because he was interested in Dawn, or if he really thought Aiden would try something in detention. No one was stupid enough to try something in detention. That was just asking to get caught. Still, Stiles appreciated the extra eyes on his cousin _this time_ and agreed that Isaac should definitely do that. When he turned back to continue glaring at the twins, he realized they weren’t creeper-staring at Dawn anymore and had focused their attention away entirely. Thank God the school day was almost over cause he didn’t know how much more he could take today.


End file.
